U.S. Women's World Cup Qualifying Group Finalized

NewsAug 20, 2002

CHICAGO (Tuesday, August 20, 2002) â€” The U.S. Womenâ€™s National Teamâ€™s road to the 2003 Womenâ€™s World Cup in China took shape last week when Trinidad & Tobago became the final team to qualify for the USAâ€™s four-team group at the upcoming 2002 CONCACAF Womenâ€™s Gold Cup. The tournament, which is serving as both the womenâ€™s championship of this region and as the qualifying tournament for the 2003 Womenâ€™s World Cup, is being played from Oct. 27 to Nov. 9 in the Los Angeles area, Seattle and Victoria, B.C.

The two finalists at the 2002 Womenâ€™s Gold Cup will automatically qualify for the 2003 Womenâ€™s World Cup, while the winner of the tournamentâ€™s third-place game will qualify for a Womenâ€™s World Cup qualifying playoff against the third place team from Asia.

The eight-team tournament, which features two groups of four teams each, will see the U.S. face Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico and Panama. The U.S. will open the tournament on Sunday, Oct. 27 against Mexico at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, before taking on Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at Titan Stadium in Fullerton, Calif. The USAâ€™s third group match will be played on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Safeco Field in Seattle against Panama.

Should the U.S. qualify for the semifinals, the team will stay in Seattle, as both semifinals will be played as a doubleheader at Safeco Field on Wednesday, Nov. 6. Those semifinal matches will decide the two automatic CONCACAF berths at the 2003 Womenâ€™s World Cup, which is being played in China from Sept. 24 to Oct. 11, 2003. The tournamentâ€™s championship and third-place games will be played on Saturday, Nov. 9 in Pasadena, Calif., at the world famous Rose Bowl, which has previously hosted the 1984 Olympic Soccer Final, the 1994 World Cup Final and the 1999 Womenâ€™s World Cup Final. All of the tournament matches are being played as doubleheaders and will be televised live on Fox Sports World and Fox Sports World Espanol.

Trinidad & Tobago became the first Caribbean nation to qualify for the 2002 Women's Gold Cup by virtue of a 2-1 win against Suriname on the road in Paramaribo on Thursday (Aug. 15), after posting a 3-1 win in their first leg victory at ome.

Tickets for all the U.S. matches at the 2002 Womenâ€™s Gold Cup are on sale now.